Commandos 3 tries to please the masses by taking a formula that works with stealth and using it in battle.
I'm not saying that Commandos 2 didn't have battles, but they were few and far between to become annoyingly hard... and this game just makes it 70% battle and 30% the signature stealth play. Just by looking at the new game in the series, Strike Force, you can see the direction Pyro is taking.
Anyway, I won't keep at that. Commandos 3 plays it safe with the rest of the features. Only in the control department has a complaint coming from me: why the heck did they remap the buttons in the keyboard? Stupid idea.
Unfortunately the Driver got scrapped from the game plan and the rest of the Commandos have to do the driving themselves. That character was a really funny factor and I think the developers regretted taking him out. Fins, on the other hand, is treated like a stinky fish and is only used in one level in the game.
Now, also, all of the Commandos can use grenades, gas grenades and some other specialized items that were character specific before. This makes the characters feel more generic and with less personality. Talking about personality, all of the characters got re-voiced and re-designed, so if you got used to Sapper's look, he's kinda different now and the Duke is a whole other person...
Level-wise, the game has three main hubs with specific levels each. In Stalingrad you'll help the Russians protect the city; in Normandy, you'll help sabotage the German defense line and be put right in the middle of battle and in Europe, you'll try to save precious works of art from the Nazis.
The graphics are detailed as ever and look really good. The soundtrack is beautifully done and as mentioned before, the voice acting has been changed.
I have to admit that Commandos 3 really made me mad, because it took the formula that I loved and thought it was perfect from Commandos 2 and changed it to suit a kind of gameplay that is really saturated nowadays. Don't get me wrong, the game is as difficult if not more than previous games - but the series was really a pennacle of improvement and innovation in the genre, and as it progresses, it falls, unfortunately, to the favors of the majority.
But if you like Commandos, this is still Commandos, you'll like it. But kiss the series good-bye after this, at least kiss the style and personality. It's the last you'll ever see it unless Pyro comes to its senses.
Thanks for reading!